Pride Over Power
by Blood Red Vampress
Summary: Aang is sick and, by chance, gets caught alone by Zuko. Will Zuko choose power and fight the boy unfairly, or will he choose his pride and let the Avatar free? Man vs. himself conflict. One-shot. R&R please! It's better than it sounds- promise!


**Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own these characters. This website **_**is**_**called fanfiction after all!**

**My first Avatar fanfic! ;) I'm in a great mood cause I just got back from the mall! So...here we go:**

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**Pride Over Power**

It was perfect timing to attack. After all Aang is only human. And humans do get sick.

Aang was barely awake when Zuko caught up to him in the woods. The worst part? Aang was alone.

Katara and Sokka were helping some villagers nearby rebuild their homes after a recent Fire Nation attack.

Aang was way out deep in the forest, looking for some fruits to help with his cold.

Momo was with him, but flew off in his own search.

Now, Aang was completely alone.

Katara told him earlier not to go out alone, but, nevertheless, he didn't listen. He insisted he was fine and left anyway.

Lo and behold, he ended up face to face with the son of the Fire Lord.

_'What great timing!'_, Aang thought to himself.

"Surrender to me, Avatar. You are in no condition to fight," Zuko said calmly in his husky voice.

"Never," Aang took on a fighting stance a few feet away from the firebender in his path.

Normally, Aang would have been able to fight, but this time, it seemed fate was against him.

He was as sick as a dog, nobody knew exactly where he was, he was alone, and, worst of all, he didn't have his glider with him.

Without the glider, his main weapon, Aang's air bending power was reduced drastically. And, he couldn't fly to escape this one. That put Zuko at yet another advantage.

"This is your last chance. Surrender to me peacefully and I won't have to use force," Zuko proposed a small deal to the boy.

"I will never go with you to the Fire Nation," Aang gritted his teeth.

Zuko scoffed and ran up to attack Aang, but was stopped.

Aang had held out his hand, signaling for Zuko to stop.

Confused, Zuko obeyed and stopped a few steps from the Avatar, not knowing what to expect.

Aang wrinkled his nose and randomly sneezed, breaking the silence on the forest. He wiped his nose with his sleeve and looked up at Zuko:

"What? No 'bless you'?"

"No!," Zuko yelled and continued to run towards Aang with his fists blazing with fire.

Aang threw himself out of the way at the last second, dodging the reckless attack.

As soon as Zuko missed and passed by Aang, Zuko turned around and ran for him a second time.

This time, he was able to kick Aang's feet out from under him, making the air bender fall to the ground on his back.

Aang sat up and rubbed his head.

"You are clearly defeated. Give up," Zuko stood strong and tall at his feet.

Aang just looked calmly at his opponent.

"I -I...,"Aang stuttered, pretending to sneeze.

Instead of sneezing, Aang blew a huge gust of wind at Zuko, sending him flying backwards into a nearby tree.

Aang used the distraction to try to fly over the trees with his air bending.

Zuko, on the other hand, was completely unfazed by the attack and stood up in his armor and strength.

When he saw the Avatar trying to escape, he formed a whip out of flames.

Aang almost flew above the trees until Zuko flung the whip and grabbed his ankle.

Zuko pulled hard on the whip, sending Aang flying to the ground, hitting it with a sickening thud.

"Finally," Zuko took a deep breath as he walked over to the unconscious Aang, who was lying on his back.

He stood at Aang's head and looked down at him.

"Finally. You have managed to elude me for long enough. Now I have you. I have the Avatar. The last air bender! I now have complete power and rule over the future Fire Nation," Zuko said to himself.

Then he was silent for a moment.

Zuko is a strong fire bender. One of the strongest of his kind. But, what made him the strongest was the fact that he left.

He just walked away from the Avatar without a second glance back.

He was strong, that's for sure. But, he was also smart enough to know that it wasn't a fair fight.

That's why he left in peace. He choose his pride over the power he would gain for the win.

If he was going to capture the Avatar to restore his honor, he was going to do it fairly.

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**Ick. That was a bit too sappy, huh?**

**Don't forget to review! And if I spelt anything wrong, please let me know so I don't screw up again! :)**

**Right now, I have an anime to watch before bed. (I'm coming Miroku!)**

**-**

**Ja mata ne,**

**Tsukiko**


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